The Carlton Airblade Lite costs $49.99 at Canadian Tire, but the same racket costs $109.95 at Badminton Alley. Here are the links Canadian Tire: http://http://canadiantire.ca/brows...older_id=1408474396672273&bmUID=1180712236358 Badminton Alley: http://http://www.badmintonalley.com/Carlton_Airblade_Lite_p/racket-carlton-airblade-lite.htm
Somehow, in US market, Carlton is not as cheap as in CAN market. Even some local stores have sales, it will be at least $70-80 range.
I don't know anything about Carlton rackets, but i just found it quite shocking that it costs over twice as much on Badminton alley. So do you happen to know if these are good rackets?
I used to have an airblade superlite it's really light but it breaks quite easily at string tension 23lb I broke it during a frameshot of a smash
Think about how many Canadian Tire stores there are in all of Canada, then multiply that by just 10 (each store stocks at least that many Carltons during the start of the summer season). Now you have an idea of how big an order Carlton gets from Canadian Tire every summer season and how much of a discount they give out.
i've been using them at tensions between 24 and 26lbs for the last two years without any real problems. only one broken with a mishit smash, but i'm more than willing to bet that it was damaged previously in a bad clash. they are much more durable then you give them credit for, especially seeing how some carltons have been known to be taking tensions higher than yonex, for example.
carlton used to be cheaper at badminton alley, however, i don't know the cause, but the prices on carlton rackets went up. prolly due to cost of import or something...
